Complaint Review: Highbeam.com Research

This rip-off artist offers a "no-risk free" one-week trial of their online document retrieval service. To access the "free" service, you are asked to check off their Terms and Conditions, and provide a credit card number.  Nowhere in their seven-page tiny print Terms and Conditions does it indicate that at the end of the free trial period, you will automatically be enrolled as a member and charged an annual membership fee of $199.95.  And get this: my college-aged son signed on for this "free" trial in September 2009 (they prey on high school and college students), never used it, and it wasn't until three months later, in mid-December, that my credit card was charged the $199.95. When I called Highbeam, they said they could cancel the membership but not provide a refund.  I filed a dispute with my credit card company and told Highbeam I would report them to the BBB and Attorney General's office unless a refund was issued. Lo and behold, they issued a refund to my credit card account and the dispute was closed.  However, several weeks later, unbeknownst to me, they supplied some sort of "documentation" to the credit card company which "provided convincing information indicating that you did engage in this transaction."  I repeat: nowhere in Highbeam's 7-page Terms and Conditions does it ever state that "free trial" users will be automatically enrolled as members at the end of the trial period, nor does it indicate what an annual membership will cost, nor does it explain how "free trial" users can avoid incurring such a charge. The only warning it issues -- twice -- is that "this is an auto-renewing contract" but the text makes it sound like this only applies to established members. TOTAL SCAM!!!!